A Fish's Tale
by Loupee
Summary: One shot written for THG fairytale fic challenge. NOT based on the Little Mermaid but very loosely based on a traditional Cornish fairy tale "Lutey and the Mermaid", as told by Barbara Sleigh in "North of Nowhere" (which has a much happier ending!)


_**A Fish's Tale**_

Based very loosely on _Lutey and the Mermaid_, a traditional Cornish fairy tale.

As told by Barbara Sleigh in "North of Nowhere."

* * *

There was once a baker's son with a love of the sea. He liked to watch the sunset melt into the water each night and spread across the surface, and to dream of distant lands where a new sun was just rising.

His love of the ocean was only outweighed by that of his love for his sweetheart, for she was as beautiful and fair and loving as the sea was deep and dark and mysterious. But the shoemaker had stated that he would not allow his daughter to marry the poor dreamer unless he could prove he was able to support them both and the family they would one day have.

As the youngest son, he knew he would not be able to earn his living from the family business, so he bought a fishing boat and joined the rest of the town's men on the waves. But as he was still paying off his debt for the boat, he was able to save very little from the money he made from his hauls. It sometimes seemed as if he would never get to marry his sweetheart.

One cold and windy day, when the sky and sea seemed almost to have turned the same shade of grey and the catches had been scant, he was drawing in his net for the last time before heading for home. His spirits rose at the weight of this trawl and he hoped it meant a bountiful catch. But as he heaved the net onto the deck it was not a full catch of fish that met his eye but a young girl with hair like sunshine. She looked up at him with startled eyes full of fright as he stared at her with stunned horror. For this was no girl – where her legs should be was a tail of shimmering iridescent blues and greens. He cursed his luck, as every good fisherman was well aware of the dangers of looking upon a mermaid.

But as he saw the tear trickle from the corner of her eyes he felt only pity and kindness. After all, she was just a child, mermaid or not, how much danger could she truly pose?

As he drew closer he saw that her tail had become entangled in the net, trapping her. She gave a gasp and tried to draw back as she saw him pull his knife.

"Don't be scared, child," he reassured her. "I won't hurt you. Look, see?" he said as he held the net away from her and with a sawing action cut the netting. "I only mean to free you. I promise you no harm."

"Please, fisherman, will you let me go?" she tearfully implored.

Although many a man after a jug or two of ale would agree on the existence of mermaids and several could claim sightings, there were none who could say they had caught one in a net. Today's unusual catch brought the baker's son the promise of fame, and with it fortune. But when he looked at her he could not see a curiosity he could sell glimpses of in a freak show, but a little girl who wanted to go home. And so he nodded in agreement. "I will."

He helped to free her from the net, knowing he would have to spend all night fixing it by candlelight to be able to fish tomorrow. When he lifted her up in his arms, he was surprised to find the scales of her tail were soft and smooth and warm, like rough silk. As he sat her on the edge of the boat, poised to dive, she turned to him with gratitude. "Please, fisherman, tell me your name so I may tell my people of your kindness."

"My name is Peeta," and then as an afterthought asked, "and what is yours?"

But she had already dived from the boat and had not heard his question. She resurfaced, a wide smile on her face at her regained freedom, and called out "Thank you, Peeta," before she dove beneath the waves and with one last flick of her tail disappeared from sight.

Weeks passed, and although there was no chance Peeta could forget his encounter, there was no evidence of it ever happening, either. So he kept the truth to himself and even began to wonder if somehow he had imagined the whole thing. Then one day, when the spring sunshine heralded the promise of summer warmth and the sky and the sea both shone a brilliant blue, he heard his name on the wind, not called or shouted from another fishing vessel but sung with the most delightful melody that filled him with a desire to laugh and shout, and yet simultaneously weep and cry.

He looked about him, searching the sea, but he could see nothing until he began to believe he was going mad. And then he saw her head emerging from the water right next to the boat. As he was leant over the side when she surfaced, there was only a hand's width between them. Any other would have pulled back in shock, but Peeta had been half expecting the mermaid's appearance. Besides, he was quite unable to move, caught as he was in the gaze of the most beautiful pair of grey eyes, the colour of the darkest shade of mother of pearl.

"Are you Peeta?" she asked. He nodded, speechless. "I have been searching for you. It was your nets that trapped my sister."

Even transfixed as he was he had enough wits still left about him to be scared. A wronged mermaid is a vengeful one, and there were plenty of tales of ships wrecked and lives lost to those who sought retribution.

"I only meant to catch fish that day, I promise. I had no plans to hurt your sister and I told her so. I cut her free and allowed her to return to the water."

The mermaid considered his words before consenting. "You did, and for that I must be grateful. A debt is owed to you and then we will be even." He nodded in agreement. "I will give you three wishes fisherman. Consider them carefully, for once you make your choice you cannot change your mind."

Never taking his eyes from hers he thought about what it was he needed most. "I wish to make a more than decent living from the sea, enough to pay off my debts and save enough for what I need to raise a family."

The mermaid nodded, which surprised him. He had not thought she would agree so readily, and had expected some form of negotiation would be required. He felt a good deal suspicious about her motives; mermaids were, after all, notoriously tricky creatures. What good was her promising him a livelihood from the sea if he did not live long enough to benefit from it? "Good health," he said, "for myself and my family, to live a long and full life, safe from perils on the land and sea."

The mermaid nodded again and smiled, and then he could not think. His mind went blank of thoughts of sense and instead was filled with only thoughts of her. Had he still been in command of his senses he would have used his final wish as insurance, had her promise to keep him safe from all magic and trickery, to have her ensure she would keep her word and his wishes. But instead he used his final wish on the only thing he truly desired in that moment.

"I wish for us to kiss."

Her smile was wiped clean from her face then and replaced with a scowl. And he saw then the stupidity of his final wish, for it had angered her. But there was nothing for it, she had offered three wishes and three wishes he had made. There was no changing his mind now.

"Alright," she agreed, "lean a little further toward the water." But Peeta shook his head. She may have agreed to a long and full life but he still did not trust her not to drag him from the boat and to the depths as punishment for his request. For he had heard the cautionary tales that mermaids liked to lure young men like himself down to the bottom of the sea.

"No. You come aboard. You have my word that once you kiss me you are free to go."

The annoyance on her face was clear, but with an angry thrash of her tail, she leapt from the sea to land on the boat. She perched on the edge, facing him. He had the sense to lash a rope around his waist and tie it to the mast so that she could not pull him into the water. He saw a flicker of something cross her face as she watched him take this precaution that told him he had been wise to be suspicious.

He crossed the small deck and stood before her, for the first time becoming aware of the swell of her breasts, barely visible through the veil of her hair that fell about her shoulders. He was suddenly unsure of how to proceed. They were no longer a fisherman and a mermaid making good on a deal, but merely two awkward individuals about to take their first kiss. Her scowl gone, she looked nervous, and Peeta saw that he would need to take the lead. Leaning closer he brought his mouth to hers. Her lips were soft yet unyielding as he pressed his lips against her.

He pulled back and shook his head. "That was not the deal." She frowned. "I wished for _us_ to kiss. You must kiss me back." Her mouth fell open, but she knew he was right and she shut it again quickly without making an argument, her scowl returning with her obvious displeasure.

He returned his mouth to hers and this time, after a second or two, her lips began to move with his. She had fulfilled his wish and he knew he should pull back, but he felt a heady need to continue. He let his tongue trace the line where her two lips met. She did not taste as he had expected. Not the strong, salty tang of the sea, but like the fresh air of the wild sea breeze. It was intoxicating and he wanted more. Her lips parted and with an exhilarated rush he felt her tongue against his. As their kiss became deeper so did the overpowering need to hold her to him. As his hands weaved in her hair he became aware that she clung to him, too, not with a plan to pull him overboard, but as if she were pulling herself toward him, craving his embrace.

He wasn't sure how long they kissed – it could have been minutes, hours, days even. He lost track of everything but her lips, her taste, her body pressed to his, overwhelmed by the potency of his desire for her.

Until at last they broke apart, both left as shocked and breathless as the other by what had passed between them.

"I have to go," she rushed, her cheeks flushed and her expression still stunned. He had only enough time to nod and she was gone.

Her mermaid wishes were kept. Peeta's catches were always more than plentiful and he paid off his debt within the year. And before the end of the next, the pot hidden inside the chimney breast where he kept his money was overflowing and he had to start filling another.

When the wild winter winds blew along the coast, wrecking many ships and taking the lives of a good deal more, his boat was unharmed. And even on days when the sea was at its rockiest and he was tossed about like a plaything he never felt any fear.

Yet the fulfillment of his wishes did not seem to bring him any happiness. His sweetheart came to visit him one day as he was just stuffing more coins into his money pot. He did not have time to hide it before she saw it and shook her head with a heavy sadness.

"I've known for some time you had the means to marry me, Peeta, but you have not yet asked my father for my hand. If you no longer mean to take me as your wife, then you must let me go and let me find another who will love me. I know now that for you I will never be enough."

And so they parted ways, but it was not without sorrow on his behalf, for he stilled cared deeply for her and had not wanted to hurt her. But she was right; although he had not realized it, he no longer loved her as before. When he sat down and thought about it he saw the truth of the matter. That since that day on the boat, the day he kissed his beautiful grey-eyed mermaid, the love he'd once had for the shoemaker's daughter, which had once out shone his love of the ocean, now paled in comparison to the depth of feeling he still harboured for the mermaid he had met only once.

Try as he might he could not free his mind or his heart from her spell. Every time he filled his lungs with the fresh sea air, felt the wind in his hair or the salt spray on his skin, his senses were filled with the essence of their kiss and he yearned to know her lips on his again. He had made his wishes and she had granted them, but now he was damned to a lifetime of longing, unsatisfied with the good fortune with which he had be favoured. It all meant nothing without her, and he cursed himself for wishing for only one kiss.

It was out at sea on a blustery day, after ignoring a warning from an old timer at the wharf that a storm was blowing in and not to take to the water, that the idea came to him. Alone on the water, the only person who knew he had nothing to fear from the sea that day, he decided that he could not go on the way he was. If he purposely put himself in danger she would have to come and rescue him and ensure he was safe.

Pulling up the anchor, he jumped over board. Lashing himself securely to the anchor, he sawed at the thick rope until he cut it free. The sudden whoosh as its weight plunged him under knocked the air from his lungs and although he had planned this, natural instinct caused him to kick and struggle to free himself, screaming out in silent pleas for help. His lungs burnt with seawater and he couldn't see anything but blackness. Then suddenly there were arms around him, tethering him safely and raising him back to the surface.

Peeta's eyes and nose streamed as he coughed and spluttered; fire raged in his lungs as he tried to take his first breaths. And then he heard the unmistakable sound of her voice berating him. "What were you doing you fool? Didn't I give you everything you wished for? Is this how you thank me?"

She was as beautiful as he remembered. Even in her anger he couldn't help but smile at her like the fool she thought him to be.

"You saved me," his voice rasped, rough with seawater. "I suppose it is my turn to grant you three wishes, although I admit you are more limited in what I can offer. But I warn you, be careful what you wish for. It's true you gave me everything I asked for, but by granting my third request you made me realise I did not have what I truly wanted."

The grey of her eyes seemed darker today, or maybe they were just made to look that way by the growing blush of her cheeks. She stared at him as he watched her nervously take her bottom lip between her teeth. She swallowed before quietly saying. "I have only one wish." He waited patiently for her to continue as she chewed at her lip again. "That you come with me. You join me at the bottom of the sea."

"And why would you have me do that?" he pressed. "What do you want of me?"

"To live with me always, as my husband."

He grinned in response and her returning smile filled every inch of his heart that had long been empty. He took her hand and with one last look about him, he let her guide him back beneath the ocean, this time able to breath as easily as the fish.

The townspeople put Peeta's disappearance down to the obvious outcome of the storm, his lucky streak finally coming to an end. And their belief would have stayed as such if it hadn't been for one night, some years later, when a captain recounted a tale to the men in the tavern. He and his crew were docked in the harbour with a cargo full of welsh slate bound for London. Only two days ago they had been anchored further up the coast when they had the strangest of encounters. They would have denied it were real if so many had not been witness to it. A raven-haired mermaid had called out for the captain from the water, and politely if not sternly requested that he pull up anchor and move along. Not wanting to attract the wrath of a mermaid he courteously agreed but dared to ask her why before complying. And do you know she said?

"Your anchor is blocking the mouth of our cave and my husband, Peeta, and our children are trapped inside."

And so it seems that whilst his own three wishes did not bring him happiness, in granting the mermaid's one request Peeta may have gotten what he truly wanted after all.

* * *

Massive thank you to Katnissinme for all her help betaing this, and for whoever's idea it was to do the fairytale challenge I had a lot of fun writing this. Hope you all enjoy reading it.


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